A journey down the rabbit hole of Rubik's-style puzzles

Howdy. I’m back from some business travel and wanted to get a last pre-holiday post up. I’ve got a couple tutorials and a fun collaboration brewing. Soon....

In the meanwhile, I wanted to post about an 8″ cube that my mom knitted for me, falling at the intersection of her and my hobbies:

My mom is an expert knitter. In my nearly forty years on this planet, she’s knitted me untold dozens of sweaters, hats, scarves, and blankets. This was one of her harder projects, and one of the more fun.

Authenticity was key for this project. I didn’t want random colors for each cubie, but instead “positions” that were attainable on a cube. The best way to do that was with an actual scramble, and we opted for the one on which Mats set the world record. That would be easily accessible, I figured, if she messed up the “model” cube that she was using. Of course, she never did.

Here are some pics:

using cube as guide

orange (with bobbins)

green

green (backside)

red

blue

yellow

white

blocking

sewn together as “pillow case”

wrapped around foam block

done

The video gives a summary of the process. Here are more details from the knitter herself:

I made a couple of swatches on different size needles to determine the gauge. The gauge is measured by counting the number of stitches over several inches then dividing by the number of inches in the width of the sample. This then determines the size of the needles needed to create the cube and individual sides along with the number of stitches for each square including the dividing black in between.

I used a knitting technique known as intarsia, which is used to create patterns with multiple colors. As with the woodworking technique of the same name, fields of different colors and materials appear to be inlaid in one another, but are in fact all separate pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Bobbins serve to contain the inactive yarn and help keep it from getting tangled.

After completing the pattern of the cube, loose threads were woven in. When all six sides were completed, they were blocked to create even squares. I then sewed them together carefully using the original cube to ensure all sides were accurate.